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December 20, 2011

Was the Candlestick Blackout Purposeful?RUSH: Anybody know whether Greta Van Susteren was at Candlestick Park last night? Fox News crew? They had two power failures during the Steelers-Fort'iners game, and wherever Fox goes, there are power failures. Like here, they knocked us off the air for -- well, discombobulated us for a half hour. We were off the air for maybe two or three minutes. They did it twice. Actually, what was going on out there, it's an old stadium, and the windmills just stopped turning. Well, it's a liberal city, windmills, the solar panels. Actually what's going on out there, you know, the Fort'iners have been trying to get a new stadium and they won't build 'em one so they just guaranteed there will never be another night game at Candlestick Park as long as the Fort'iners play there. There was a rumor going around, the league believes there was some chicanery with the power failure being purposeful to speed the building of the new stadium going on down in Santa Clara.

Kim Jong-Dead Still Dead, North Korean Fat Cats MournRUSH: Kim Jong-Dead is still dead. Have you noticed anything peculiar about the people in North Korea who have been seen crying over Kim Jong-il's death? They're crying out there, but the people, they all look fat. They all look plump to me. Which is odd 'cause we've been told that most of the people in North Korea are on the verge of starvation. So there must be some income disparity in North Korea after all. The mourners must be North Korea's fat cats, the 1%-ers. They eat enough to even have tears.

Where's the Praise for North Korea's National Healthcare?RUSH: Have you noticed, folks, and one of the truly great outrages of the week, none of the news media is mentioning the great strides that Kim Jong-il made in nationalizing North Korea's health care system. It's a complete shambles. North Korea's health care system is a complete shambles, and Kim Jong-il nationalized -- but we're not hearing one word, no, we're not hearing about any of the great things Kim Jong-il did. No, he was mercurial, enigmatic, wonderful guy. Madeleine Albright, "No, he's not a nut, no, we don't want to make fun of him." Andrea Mitchell, NBC New, (impression) "I met him, you know what, I really met, I met him, I met him, yeah, I met Kim Jong-il when I was over there with Madeleine Albright, I actually met Kim Jong-il. Aren't I cool?" But not a word about his wonderful nationalized health care program which features amputations without anesthesia, because they don't have any.

Dr. Sowell on Newt and MittRUSH: Thomas Sowell has a piece. One of my most admired columnists, Thomas Sowell, he's at the Hoover Institute out at Stanford, Palo Alto, and he has a piece endorsing Newt. Well, he takes an adult look at Newt Gingrich and his candidacy without any hysteria and without an agenda. Let me read this to you because as you all know, Thomas Sowell is very respected here by everybody who reads him. In fact, there are places that publish Thomas Sowell's work who might have a problem with this because Thomas Sowell is writing and saying things here that places that the publish his work disagree with, or at least don't say.

"If Newt Gingrich were being nominated for sainthood, many of us would vote very differently from the way we would vote if he were being nominated for a political office. What the media call Gingrich's 'baggage' concerns largely his personal life and the fact that he made a lot of money running a consulting firm after he left Congress. This kind of stuff makes lots of talking points that we will no doubt hear, again and again, over the next weeks and months. But how much weight should we give to this stuff when we are talking about the future of a nation? This is not just another election, and Barack Obama is not just another president whose policies we may not like." And, by the way, folks, that perfectly describes the Republican establishment attitude about this. He says it here very pithy, but this is exactly the way -- "It's just the normal election cycle, Obama's just the latest Democrat, just another election." That's the GOP establishment.

They do not see Obama as a threat to the traditional American way of life. They do not see Obama as a threat to America's traditional economic system, they don't. It's just the normal ebb and flow of politics, just another cycle, a Democrat happened to win. But Sowell is right. "This is not just another election, and Barack Obama is not just another president whose policies we may not like. With all of President Obama's broken promises, glib demagoguery and cynical political moves, one promise he has kept all too well. That was his boast on the eve of the 2008 election: 'We are going to change the United States of America.'"Many Americans are already saying that they can hardly recognize the country they grew up in. We have already started down the path that has led Western European nations to the brink of financial disaster. Internationally, it is worse. A president who has pulled the rug out from under our allies, whether in Eastern Europe or the Middle East, tried to cozy up to our enemies and has bowed low from the waist to foreign leaders certainly has not represented either the values or the interests of America. If he continues to do nothing that is likely to stop terrorist-sponsoring Iran from getting nuclear weapons, the consequences can be beyond our worst imagining.

"Against this background, how much does Newt Gingrich's personal life matter, whether we accept his claim that he has now matured or his critics' claim that he has not? Nor should we sell the public short by saying that they are going to vote on the basis of tabloid stuff or media talking points, when the fate of this nation hangs in the balance. Even back in the 19th century, when the scandal came out that Grover Cleveland had fathered a child out of wedlock – and he publicly admitted it – the voters nevertheless sent him to the White House, where he became one of the better presidents. Do we wish we had another Ronald Reagan? We could certainly use one. But we have to play the hand we were dealt. And the Reagan card is not in the deck.

"While the televised debates are what gave Newt Gingrich's candidacy a big boost, concrete accomplishments when in office are the real test. Gingrich engineered the first Republican takeover of the House of Representatives in 40 years – followed by the first balanced budget in 40 years. The media called it 'the Clinton surplus' – but all spending bills start in the House of Representatives, and Gingrich was speaker of the House. Speaker Gingrich also produced some long overdue welfare reforms, despite howls from liberals that the poor would be devastated. But nobody makes that claim any more. Did Gingrich ruffle some feathers when he was speaker of the House? Yes, enough for it to cost him that position. But he also showed that he could produce results."In a world where we can make our choices only among the alternatives actually available, the question is whether Newt Gingrich is better than Barack Obama – and better than Mitt Romney. Romney is a smooth talker, but what did he actually accomplish as governor of Massachusetts, compared to what Gingrich accomplished as speaker of the House? When you don't accomplish much, you don't ruffle many feathers. But is that what we want? Can you name one important positive thing Romney accomplished as governor of Massachusetts? Can anyone?

"Does a candidate who represents the bland leading the bland increase the chances of victory in November 2012? A lot of candidates like that have lost, from Thomas E. Dewey to John McCain. Those who want to concentrate on the baggage in Newt Gingrich's past, rather than on the nation's future, should remember what Winston Churchill said: 'If the past sits in judgment on the present, the future will be lost.'" Let me run that by you again. Churchill: "If the past sits in judgment on the present, the future will be lost."

"If that means a second term for Barack Obama, then it means the future lost big time."So there's Sowell. He's basically saying, keep things in perspective here. What's somebody's past, tabloid past to boot, when you're talking about saving the nation. And he's reacting to the scorched earth negative campaigning that's going on, and the fact that there's nobody perfect, and that we have to deal with the cards that are in the deck and all that. So I just wanted to share that with you, 'cause again, there are a lot of places that publish Thomas Sowell's columns which might forget about this one, may not make the cut 'cause it's so diametrically opposed to those places' current stated, endorsed candidates or positions.

CNN: Payroll Tax Deadlock Could Hobble EconomyRUSH: Look at this. From CNN: "If Congress fails to pass an extension of the payroll tax holiday, it would put a serious dent into economic growth in 2012 and could even help tip the US back into a recession." Are you kidding me? A 2% cut to payroll tax? No doing a tax cut will throw us into a recession? This is what CNN wants us to believe? Unbelievable.